Saint Sergius (Sergey Alexandrovich Krestnikov) was born on July 1, 1893, in Moscow. After finishing school, in 1905 he entered the Pokrovsky Monastery in Moscow, where he sang in the choir until 1915. Then for two years he sang in the choirs of Moscow churches, and in 1918 he became a novice at the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, where he lived until the closure of the monastery in 1922. After that, he served in the Piatnitskaya Church in Sergiev Posad, and from 1928 he was a psalmist in the church at the Kukuyevsky Cemetery, where the elder Alexius (Solovyov) was buried.
On October 21, 1935, he was arrested by the NKVD and imprisoned in Butyrka prison. During the interrogations, he expressed dissatisfaction with the Soviet government for closing churches and persecuting believers. On January 8, 1936, he was sentenced to five years in a corrective labor camp and was sent to Ukhtpechlag.
On January 21, 1938, Sergius was arrested again on charges of anti-Soviet agitation. On March 15, 1938, the NKVD troika sentenced him to death by shooting. Saint Sergius Krestnikov was executed on April 25, 1938, and buried in a common grave.
